UNIVERSITY ENGINEERS DEVELOP OIL PIPELINE DEFECT SENSOR


The technology can help prevent accidents such as the 2011 Sinai slum oil pipeline tragedy.
In Summary
• The team tested an aluminium bar with an induced defect and, using the technology, achieved the highest reported resolution worldwide.
• It involves the use of a specially amplified ultrasound wave, which can detect even small defects at a length of ten metres. 

Kenyan and Indian researchers have jointly developed one of the world’s most sensitive technologies to detect flaws in buildings, pipelines and railway tracks among other structures.
The technology can help prevent accidents such as the 2011 Sinai slum oil pipeline tragedy that killed 120 people.
It involves the use of a specially amplified ultrasound wave, which can detect even small defects at a length of ten metres. 
The current methods are tedious and time-consuming, says Prof Michael Gatari, the director of the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology at the University of Nairobi
 
He said the university team was working in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to improve the existing ultrasound technology.
"This can be used in any buildings, but mostly tall buildings because the risk is higher. It can also be used on rail tracks and oil pipelines and even planes," he said.
The development is published in the reputed peer-reviewed American Institute of Physics Advances Journal.
“With this advance, you can test to see if there's a defect in a structure, after which you do more investigation and rectify the defect,” he said.
The journal paper is co-authored by Prof Gatari, UoN PhD student John Birir and Prof Prabhu Rajagopal of the department of mechanical engineering, IIT Madras.

Using the technology, the team tested an aluminium bar with an induced defect and achieved the highest reported resolution worldwide.

 

Research :Lead author John Birir , a PHD Student at University of Nairobi , doing experiments at the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras ( IIT - Madras) in Chennai India


The technology can help prevent accidents such as the 2011 Sinai slum oil pipeline tragedy.
In Summary
• The team tested an aluminium bar with an induced defect and, using the technology, achieved the highest reported resolution worldwide.
• It involves the use of a specially amplified ultrasound wave, which can detect even small defects at a length of ten metres. 

Kenyan and Indian researchers have jointly developed one of the world’s most sensitive technologies to detect flaws in buildings, pipelines and railway tracks among other structures.
The technology can help prevent accidents such as the 2011 Sinai slum oil pipeline tragedy that killed 120 people.
It involves the use of a specially amplified ultrasound wave, which can detect even small defects at a length of ten metres. 
The current methods are tedious and time-consuming, says Prof Michael Gatari, the director of the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology at the University of Nairobi.
 
He said the university team was working in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to improve the existing ultrasound technology.
"This can be used in any buildings, but mostly tall buildings because the risk is higher. It can also be used on rail tracks and oil pipelines and even planes," he said.
The development is published in the reputed peer-reviewed American Institute of Physics Advances Journal.
“With this advance, you can test to see if there's a defect in a structure, after which you do more investigation and rectify the defect,” he said.
The journal paper is co-authored by Prof Gatari, UoN PhD student John Birir and Prof Prabhu Rajagopal of the department of mechanical engineering, IIT Madras.

Using the technology, the team tested an aluminium bar with an induced defect and achieved the highest reported resolution worldwide.